United Way Wants YOU to Stuff the Bus

By Karen Hammond

Schools are gearing up for the first day of class, and the United Way of Paducah-McCracken County plans to ensure that every student has the tools needed to succeed this year. Celebrating its 12th year, the United Way's Stuff the Bus school supply drive has provided much needed items to students since 2009.

The Organization will have shoppers at three Paducah locations who will literally load a yellow school bus with donations. This year's event is Saturday, July 17, from 10am - 4pm. United Way volunteers will pass out shopping lists to customers at Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart (both the Paducah locations). Shoppers can purchase needed supplies and drop them off on their way out of stores. Cash donations will also be gratefully accepted on site.

Last year, during the pandemic, this annual event went entirely virtual. “Like everyone else we had to innovate,” said Anne Bidwell, United Way Community Impact Manager. “We stuffed the bus by securely shopping online through our website. However, many people like to shop themselves. So, we used an Amazon Wish List to provide a virtual shopping cart. Supplies were shipped directly to the PaducahMcCracken County Library which served as our collection point. We brought all the supplies to our office and socially distanced volunteers and staff sorted the supplies.”

“Staff made individual appointments with the Family & Youth Center Coordinators at each school site and they collected the supplies they needed. For private schools, their coordinators picked up supplies in person. On-line cash donations were actually up last year although physical supplies were fewer – it all balanced out in the end.”

The demand for supplies is ever increasing, it just seems to go up every year. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have mostly passed, there are still families with increased expenses or who have not regained their employment. Many families have reduced incomes in 2021 while gas and food costs etc., have increased. With your help, the United Way plans to provide school supplies to approximately 1,400 students in Paducah-McCracken County this year. This includes all 18 public and both private schools in the county.

Don’t shop in-store? No problem!

You can Stuff the Bus with your secure, online donations at any time. Just visit unitedwaypaducah.org/bus to sign up. You can sign up on the same web page to be a volunteer shopper or stuffer.

Once again, a big thank you to longtime event sponsor Paducah Bank for supporting our area students. 